The Storm
by Kay Echidna
Summary: Not long after the incidents of ARK, Knuckles finds himself in the middle of huge crisis. The planet is close to total destruction and an enemy worse than Robotnik is discovered. One last thing. . . . . .Shadow's story of survival after his fall!


I does not own's Knuckles, Rouge, Julie-Su, Tails, or any other Sonic character. They are all copyrighted to either Sonic Team, Archie, or who ever owns them all I know is that I does not! I do however own Trinket. She is mine mine mine!! NO STEALING WITHOUT PERMISSION!! Well I think that's all so START READING!! ^^  
  
The Storm  
  
It was a perfect day in Station Square. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It wasn't the same story in the Mystic Ruins Jungle. It was pouring down rain. Knuckles the Echidna just happened to be walking through here at this time.  
"That's strange." Knuckles said to himself, "the rain feels warm for some reason. Usually it's always freezing cold, even during the summer." Well he knew of a cave where he could go and wait for it to stop raining so that's where he headed to. He was supposed to be meeting someone near by, but he decided he could just wait for the rain to stop. As he approached a young girl ran into the cave. He followed her in so he to could get out of the rain. "Hey! Are you following me?!" The girl said in an angry voice. The girl is a young red-orange Echidna with blue eyes. She has a Spaghetti strap yellow shirt and low cut baggy jeans. Around her neck is a golden star shaped locket. Around her waist is a large brown belt.  
"Well I came to get out of the rain." Knuckles said to her.  
"Oh, I'm sorry I always do that jumping to conclusions like always." She said," Well let's start over. My name is Lillian Locke, but everyone calls me Trinket." She holds out her hand to Knuckles.  
"I'm Knuckles." He says as he goes to grab her hand. As he does she pulls away snapping her fingers.  
"Nice to meet ya." She says laughing, "Wait did you say your name is Knuckles."  
"Ya, that's what I said." He told her  
"Well I'm the one who sent you that letter. You know the one about introducing a girl to Sonic? Well I'm the one who sent that to you. Well what a coincidence." Trinket said. "Well at least we had the same idea about getting out of the rain. I guess it was a good idea to come here." Knuckles said. Trinket then walked over to a rock and sat down. Knuckles went over and sat down next to her.  
"So are you going to introduce me to Sonic or what?" Trinket asked  
"Well I guess I can take you to him when the rain stops. Why do you want to meet him anyway?" Knuckles asked.  
"Well one he is like the coolest person I have ever seen. Two he has saved the world who knows how many times and three because . . . well. . . I kinda have a crush on him." Trinket explained.  
"Sounds just like what every girl would say. Hey why did you send me a letter when you could have just as easily sent it to Sonic?" Knuckles asked  
"You tell me. You just can't send a letter to the fastest hedgehog in the world because you would probably never get a reply. So I just sent it to the next best thing you!" She explained.  
  
After a couple of hours of talking the rain finally stopped, but I don't think either one of them were prepared for what was in store for them when they walked out of there. "Hey I think the rain has stopped." Knuckles said  
"So does that mean. . ."Trinket said.  
"Yep, let's go find Sonic!" he said as he ran out.  
"Yeah! Finally I'm going to meet Sonic." She said as she jumped up and ran after him. When she got to him he was just standing there looking out into the forest. "Hey what's the hold ...?" Trinket said, but she came to find what the problem was.  
"What happened?" knuckles said in a soft voice.  
"I don't know. everything's.dead." Trinket answered in the same soft tone. Knuckles and Trinket just stood there looking out into what use to be the Mystic Ruins jungle, but now it's more like the mystic ruins wasteland. Not one thing was alive. Everything had been destroyed. Then a thought shot through Knuckles' mind. He then said, "The Storm. . . ." "What?" Trinket asked  
"The Storm. It's what did this." Knuckles answered her.  
"The Storm? How could a storm do all of this?" She asked.  
"I'm not sure, but didn't the rain seem a little strange?" Knuckles said. Then he thought of something and then something crossed his mind, "My Island!" Knuckles screamed out. He grabbed Trinkets arm and ran off toward the entrance of the jungle.  
As Trinket and Knuckles are running past the ruins in the jungle a figure of a girl is seen by the temple. Then in a flash of light the girl is gone. We then see Knuckles and Trinket exiting the jungle and running off in the direction of the floating Island. When they finally arrived Trinket sees that the island is in the middle of the ocean and she asks, "Um Knuckles. I thought this was supposed to be the floating island." Trinket said.  
"Ya what's your point." Knuckles asked  
"Well shouldn't it be, oh I don't know.FLOATING! Like in the AIR!" Trinket said.  
"Well with the power of the master emerald I can move the island where ever I want it. Even if that means landing in the ocean." Knuckles explained. He grabbed Trinkets arm and ran toward the edge of the cliff. Just as he's about to jump off so he can glide over to the island the girl stops and Knuckles falls flat on his face.  
"Hey what are you doing?!" Knuckles said getting up rubbing his head.  
"You see these new shoes. These shoes ain't going in that water so I think I'll fly over there." Trinket explained.  
"I wasn't going to swim over there I was going to glide!" Knuckles said frustrated, "hey wait a minute. Echidnas can't fly! So how are you going to 'fly' over there?"  
"These shoes aren't just for looks." Trinket said as she gave a little giggle, "Now watch and be amazed at the flying Echidna." She then clicked her heels together and was lifted off the ground by the jets in her boots. Then as she flew off toward the Island she turned around and waved to Knuckles saying, "See you on the other side."  
"Girls." Knuckles murmured to himself as he jumped off the side off the cliff and started to glide over to his island. A few minutes later Trinket was sitting there waiting and Knuckles comes climbing up the side dripping wet. Trinket then said, "Like I said these shoes ain't going in that water."  
"Very funny. I almost drowned!" He said. Then in shock he said, "Look at my island. everything's still the same. Ok what's going on?"  
"I can answer that question." Rouge said as she walked up behind Trinket.  
"Bat Girl!" Knuckles said angrily," What are you doing here. Trying to steal MY emerald again!"  
"For once knucklehead NO! Besides you should be thanking me." Rouge explained.  
"And why should I do that!" Knuckles asked  
"Because I just saved your island." Rouge said as she walked up closer to him.  
"How!" Knuckles asked.  
"By using the Master Emeralds power KNUCKLEHEAD!" Rouge said hitting Knuckles over the head.  
"Hey! You Little. . ." Knuckles said very angrily  
"Bring it on Echidna!" Rouge said angrily too.  
"HOLD IT!!" Trinket yelled out stepping in between the two of them, "I think we have more important matters on our hands at this moment!"  
"Hey who are you?" Rouge asked her.  
"Oh I'm sorry. My name is Lillian Locke, but everyone calls me Trinket." She explained.  
"So Trinket what are you doing here?" Rouge asked.  
"I'm here with Knuckles. He's going to introduce me to Sonic the hedgehog. And I know you too! You are Rouge the Bat. The Notorious jewel thief who helped Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails save the world from the space colony ARK's Ultimate Life Form Experiment thingy." Trinket explained  
"You sure know a lot." Rouge said.  
'"I've done a lot of studying on everything about Sonic and that's how I came across Knuckles' name. So I sent him a letter and here I am!"  
  
"How sweet." Rouge said in a cocky kind of way," well we aren't getting anywhere this way so what do you suppose we do?"  
"I say we go to Station Square and see what's happened there. We can swing by Tails' workshop and see if he's there." Knuckles said.  
"Sounds like a plan to me." Trinket said  
"Well let's go!" Knuckles said as the three headed back to the mainland. When they got there it seemed like a hurricane had hit Tails' shop.  
"Hey Tails! Are you here?" Knuckles yelled out.  
"Foxboy. Hello?" Rouge said as she walked into the workshop.  
"Looks like he's not here." Trinket said as she followed Rouge and Knuckles into the workshop," Oh my god! WOW!" Trinket said as she walked up to the Tornado. "What a plane! I've never seen anything like this before."  
"Tails built it. He's a great mechanic." Knuckles explained to her," well I guess Tails has already headed for Station Square to look for Sonic. We better start heading there too."  
"But how are we going to get there? The Train isn't running since the tracks have been demolished." Rouge asked.  
"We can fly there in Tails' plane!" Trinket said as she walked over and got into the pilot's seat of the plane.  
"Oh, and I suppose YOU know how to fly a plane." Rouge said, again being very cocky.  
"Yep! Tails isn't the only mechanic in the world. I've built, and flown, a few planes before." Trinket explained as she examined the planes controls.  
"Now this I've got to see." Rouge said as she hopped into the back seat of the plane.  
"Well I guess I'll be standing on the top." Knuckles said as he jumped up on top of the plane.  
"This thing is really high tech. What kind of power source does Tails use?" Trinket asked still examining the controls.  
"A chaos emerald." Knuckles said.  
"Do what! And he's actually gotten it to work! I've used a chaos emerald before, but the minute I got the plane in the air it exploded." Trinket said as she finally found the switch to fire up the plane," okay here we go! There's just one problem."  
"What?" Knuckles and Rouge asked in unison.  
"How do I get there?" Trinket said. Rouge and Knuckles just rolled there eyes and then Rouge said," Don't worry I'll point you in the right direction.  
  
As the three flew over the newly created desert, that use to be the ocean, they saw in every direction that everything was like a barren waste land. When they approached Station Square they saw that all the buildings looked like the ruins of an ancient civilization of some kind.  
"Is that Station Square?" Trinket asked.  
"Well, at least what's left of it." Knuckles said.  
"Whoa. This is horrible. How could a storm so small cause this much damage?" Rouge asked.  
"Hey I think I found a place to land. It's gonna be rough, but it's the only place I can find so hold on." Trinket explained as she began to descend down to land. When they landed they couldn't believe what they saw.  
"Knuckles, everyone's . . . . gone." Rouge said as she climbed out of the plane.  
"Where could everyone have gone to?" Trinket asked.  
"I'm not sure, but we'll have to find out later. Right now we need to find Sonic and Tails.  
  
"I bet we could get a better look at the city if we went up higher." Trinket suggested.  
"That's not a bad idea. Well let's get to climbing." Knuckles said as he walked over to one of the buildings.  
"Wait, who says we have to climb? We could always fly up there using my jet boots. Remember." Trinket explained to him.  
"There is just no end to your madness is there Trinket." Rouge said as she walked over to her and grabbed her arm.  
"Nope." Trinket said with a little giggle as Knuckles came and grabbed her other arm," Okay hold on." She clicked her heals and the three began to fly up towards the top of the ruined buildings. When they landed the first thing they saw was the sun setting. As they watched Trinket said," Wow, it's so beautiful and at the same time so awful."  
"You're right Trinket." Rouge said.  
"Well I took a look around and couldn't find anything or anyone. Since it's already pretty late we better find a place to sleep for the night." Knuckles explained.  
"Right." Trinket said in a soft voice as Knuckle and Rouge grabbed her arms and they all descended down to the ground. The three looked around for awhile and finally found a small building where they could sleep.  
The next morning, Rouge was up with the sun ready to go and she wasn't the only one.  
"Hmm. Where's Trinket?" Rouge said to herself as she rose up and walked out of the building. She looked around the city for awhile trying to find Trinket and she finally found her on the out skirts of the city close to where the plane was. She was sitting on the side of a wall watching the sunrise.  
"Trinket?" Rouge said as she approached her.  
"Rouge." Trinket said very startled.  
"So I see you like to watch sunsets and sunrises." Rouge said as she sat down next to her.  
"Yah, my father would always take me up on this big hill when I was real young to watch the sunset, and then he'd wake me up real early and take me to that same place to watch the sunrise. So now everyday it's clear outside I always watch the sun rise and set. It just helps me to remember what it was like having someone to love you and care for you." Trinket explained to Rouge.  
"So I guess you're pretty lonely."  
"I'm only lonely during the day, but at night I feel like my family is right there beside me just like we use to be. You see my city was destroyed a long time ago. Actually it wasn't to long before Knuckles' city Echidnaopolis was destroyed." Trinket said.  
"Well I'm sure Knuckles will be getting up soon and will be worried about us." Rouge said as the two of them laughed," Lets get going." The two got up and headed back to the building.  
"HEY!!" Knuckles said with an angered voice," where in the world have you two been?"  
"See what I mean." Rouge whispered to Trinket.  
"We just went for a walk to see if we could find anything. You don't have to worry so much; we're big girls ya know." Trinket said to him.  
"Yah you big worry wart!" Rouge said to him.  
"Well whatever, we need to get going so we can find Sonic and Tails." Knuckles said as he walked out of the building. The two girls followed.  
"So where might the two of them be?" Trinket asked.  
"Knowing those two they could be anywhere." Knuckles said.  
"Hey wait a minute. I remember seeing something as we were flying into the city. It was out in the desert somewhere. It looked kinda strange. What if that was Tails' plane. He might have crashed or something." Rouge explained to them.  
"Hey I saw that thing too. I know, I'll take our plane and fly back out there to investigate." Trinket offered.  
"That's a good idea. Rouge and I will search deeper into the city. We'll meet back here in about three or so hours. Let's Go!" Knuckles said as they split up.  
Knuckles and Rouge had just gotten started when they found something very interesting.  
"Knuckles what's that?" Rouge said pointing at an object on the ground.  
"It looks like. . .Amy's hammer! She never goes anywhere without it just in case she runs into trouble. She must have been kidnapped." Knuckles said.  
"You sure do jump to conclusions fast don't you? I mean she could have just dropped it or something." Rouge said  
"Well at least we found something." Knuckles said. Suddenly a strange figure ran by the two and sneaked into a dark alley way behind them.  
"Hey did you just see what I saw?" Rouge asked  
"Yeah, we better follow it." Knuckles said as he and Rouge ran after the shadow.  
  
Meanwhile on the other side of town Trinket had finally reached the plane.  
"Finally! It really didn't seem that long when I made this run this morning, but oh well I better get going!" Trinket said as she hopped into the plane and fired it up. She flew for a while looking in every direction for Tails' plane. Finally she found it.  
"There it is! Now I just have to land." Trinket said as she turned the plane in the direction of Tails' plane. She landed her plane not to far from the other one.  
"Yep, this plane definitely crashed." Trinket said examining the wrecked plane. She then found footprints leading away from the plane. "These must be Tails' so I better follow them. Hopefully they'll lead me to him." She then ran off following the footprints.  
  
Back in the city Knuckles and Rouge had cornered the shadow in the alley way.  
"All right you! There's no way out so show yourself." Knuckles yelled out. The Shadow stepped forward into the light and removed the hood over its face to reveal itself to be," This can't be . . . . . . . Julie-Su?" Knuckles said in great shock.  
"That's right Knuckles. It is me." Julie-Su said," what are you doing here? And who's the chick behind you?"  
"Chick! CHICK!!! Who are you calling a Chick?" Rouge said very angered.  
"Calm down!" Julie-Su said to Rouge," people these day's. You say something and they automatically take it the wrong way *sigh*"  
"Why you little twit!" Rouge said behind closed teeth, still very angered.  
"Would you two stop?!" Knuckles said stepping in between the two," Julie-Su this is Rouge and vise versa."  
"Nice to meet you Rouge." Julie-Su said.  
"It's a pleasure I'm sure." Rouge said in that cocky tone of hers.  
"O, brother." Knuckles said to himself," Well Julie-Su why are you here?"  
"Well I'm looking for Lara-Su. She's been kidnapped." Julie-Su explained.  
"Kidnapped!" Knuckles and Rouge said both looking at Julie-Su.  
  
As Trinket followed the footprints all of the sudden," This can't be good. The footprints end here, but there's nothing around here. He must have started to fly from this point. So I might as well do the same." Trinket said as she clicked her heels to activate her jet boots. She began to fly in the direction the footprints had been heading. She flew over the sands what seemed like forever until she finally reached a small island. "Hmmm, maybe that's where Tails is. Well might as well check it out." She landed on the island and found more footprints. "YES! This has to be where Tails is." She followed the footprints around the island and finally into a cave. As she went deeper into the cave it became darker and darker. Finally she reached a dead end. "This can't be good." She said. Suddenly, "Ahhhhhhhh!" She screamed as the ground below her collapsed and she fell down into a large crystal cavern. "Whoa! This place is huge."  
"Who's there?!" A voice said behind her. Trinket turned around only to find, "TAILS!" Trinket said.  
"Who are you?" Tails asked.  
"My names Lillian Locke, but everyone calls me Trinket, and that's the third time I've said that in two days. Man I sure am meeting a lot of new people it seems. Well we need to go and meet back up with Rouge and Knuckles." Trinket explained to him.  
"Rouge and Knuckles? Them two . . . together! This just can't get any better." Tails said with sarcasm in his voice.  
"You said it Tails." Trinket replied," So how are we supposed to get out of here?"  
"I'm not sure. I guess we can just follow one of these caves and see where it takes us." Tails said as he and Trinket began heading down one of the caves in the crystal caverns.  
  
Back in Station Square Knuckles, Rouge, and Julie-Su were catching up on everything that's been happening.  
"Ok so we know that this storm is probably what caused this, right?" Knuckles explained.  
"Right, but we don't know anything else. Like how this storm was created or who created it in the first place." Rouge said.  
"Hey I may have something!" Julie-Su said suddenly.  
"What?" Knuckles and Rouge asked her.  
"I remember seeing some kind of weird aircraft floating over the city just a few hours before the storm started. It was all red and black and really weird. Does that help?  
  
Julie-Su explained.  
"Hey, actually that does." Knuckles said," actually that tells me exactly who's behind this!"  
"Who?" Rouge asked.  
"Dr. Eggman, the only problem is that Eggman doesn't have that kind of technology to put out such a destructive storm." Knuckles said.  
"Maybe, but what if he's not the only one behind this? Maybe he's working with someone?" Julie-Su said.  
"Julie-Su? What do you mean?" Rouge asked.  
"What I mean is maybe he's not the only one behind this. Maybe he found someone with even more power than him." Julie-Su explained.  
"Some one worse than Robotnik? Now that's a stretch. I don't see how anyone could be worse than him." Knuckles said.  
"Knuckles! Open your eyes and look around! You even said it yourself that Robotnik doesn't have this kind of power!" Julie-Su said as she jumped up and yelled out at him.  
"Well sorry! I'm just saying that after all this time Robotnik has always worked alone. Everything he has ever created is the only thing that he's ever worked with. So why after all this time would he choose to work with someone?" Knuckles said standing up and moving over toward her.  
"Knuckles," Rouge said also standing up and moving over toward Julie- Su," don't forget that Shadow and I worked for him too for that short time."  
"But still, Shadow was created and Robotnik was just using you! You just followed along for the prize you'd get at the end! Which you never did get!" Knuckles said now yelling at her.  
"Knuckles! How dare you yell at her like that!" Julie-Su yelled at him.  
"Knuckles," Rouge said angered with tears in her eyes," I did get my prize! It's just that I can't have my entire prize since it belongs to some one else!" Rouge ran out of the building and flew off.  
"That girl! I thought she knew already that the Master Emerald belongs to me alone!" Knuckles said as he glared out into the streets. Julie-Su just stood there in shock for Julie-Su knew what Rouge was talking about, and she knew that she was right.  
"Knuckles." Julie-Su said taking his hand. Knuckles looked back at her.  
"Hmm?" Knuckles said looking into her eyes. Julie-Su just stared up at him for a few seconds. Finally she asked him," Kiss me."  
"What?" Knuckles asked shocked.  
"You heard me, kiss me." Julie-Su said in a sweet soft voice. Knuckles looked at her and then kissed her softly on the lips. They held it for a while until he broke the kiss.  
"Now tell me something." Julie-Su said to him.  
"What?" knuckles asked.  
"How did that make you feel?" She asked.  
"It's how all of your kisses make me feel. Warm, calm, at peace with everything and . . . . . . ." Knuckles paused for a second.  
"What?" Julie-Su asked.  
"I'm not sure. But it just makes me feel strange, different." Knuckles explained. Julie-Su looked at him as he walked over and sat down. She began to walk out of the building, but Knuckles stopped her.  
"Where are you going?" He asked.  
"I'm going to go find Rouge." She said.  
"Ok." He said as she walked out of the building into the night.  
  
Back in the cavern Tails and Trinket were still looking for a way out.  
"Tails! We've been through every single tunnel here and we still haven't found a way out! Can't we stop and pick this up tomorrow?" Trinket asked as she sat down on the cold rocky ground.  
"No! We have to get out and find Sonic!" Tails said as he looked around.  
"Well you keep looking and I'll sit here and watch." Trinket said as she leaned up against the wall. Tails walked over and sat down next to her.  
"Maybe you're right Trinket. I am pretty tired." He said as he yawned.  
"See, what did I-------"Trinket said, but before she finished something in the water caught her eye.  
"What the?" Trinket said as she jumped up," What is that?"  
"I'm not sure." Tails said as he stood up next to her. Then a light for far above the cavern shone down into the water toward the water. The thing that had caught their eye began to glow and shown another light up, out of the water and straight through the waterfall. The waterfall split apart to reveal another tunnel.  
"Look! That must be the way out!" Trinket said as she pointed to the tunnel.  
"You're probably right! Well let's go!" Tails said as he grabbed her arms and flew her across the water into the tunnel. The second they landed the waterfall returned back to its normal state.  
"Looks like we just made it!" Tails said.  
"Ya, well we're wasting time! Let's go!" Trinket said as she ran down the tunnel with Tails not to far behind. 


End file.
